American soccer journalist Grant Wahl has died after suffering an apparent heart attack at Lusail Stadium, where he was covering Friday night’s World Cup quarter-final between Argentina and the Netherlands.
Wahl, who was a correspondent for CBS Sports and wrote a popular Substack column, was 49.
“The entire U.S. Soccer family is heartbroken to learn that we have lost Grant Wahl,” U.S. Soccer said in a statement. “Here in the United States, Grant’s passion for soccer and commitment to raising its profile in our sports landscape played a major role in helping to generate interest and respect for our beautiful game. So important is that the Grant’s belief in the power of play to advance human rights was, and will continue to be, an inspiration to all.”
Wahl was sitting in the press room at the top of the stadium when he collapsed in overtime, prompting reporters around him to pull out their chairs and call for medical attention.
A medical team arrived and began administering CPR over the next 20 minutes. After the match concluded, Wahl was taken off the stage.
Wahl’s wife, Dr. Celine Gounder, an infectious disease epidemiologist who served on Joe Biden’s coronavirus task force, confirmed her husband’s death in a statement on Twitter.
“I am so grateful for the support of my husband @GrantWahl’s football family and so many friends who have reached out tonight. I am in complete shock,” she wrote.
US State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a tweet that the US is “engaged with senior Qatari officials to ensure that his family’s wishes are carried out as expeditiously as possible.”
Wahl made headlines earlier in the tournament when he was stopped by security at Qatar’s Ahmad bin Ali Stadium for wearing a rainbow shirt in the USA’s World Cup opener against Gal them He said he was wearing the shirt as a show of solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community. Homosexuality is illegal in Qatar.
Wahl wrote on Monday that he had visited a medical clinic in Qatar after feeling unwell.
“My body finally broke up with me. Three weeks of little sleep, high stress and a lot of work can do that,” Wahl wrote. “What had been a cold for the last 10 days turned into something more serious the night of the USA-Netherlands game, and I could feel my upper chest take on a new level of pressure and discomfort. I didn’t have Covid (I get tested here regularly) but today I went to the medical clinic in the main media center and was told that I probably have bronchitis. They gave me a course of antibiotics and some cough syrup, and I feel a little better a few hours later. But still: No, good.”
Wahl was perhaps America’s best-known soccer reporter. He covered his first World Cup in 1994 and joined Sports Illustrated in 1996. He remained at the magazine for more than two decades, chronicling the rise of soccer in the US and writing a well-received book about the arrival of David Beckham in the MLS. He also wrote the magazine’s first cover story on LeBron James while the basketball player was a rising star in high school. Qatar was Wahl’s eighth World Cup.
“We were proud to call him a colleague and friend for two decades — no writer in SI history has been more passionate about the sport he loved and the stories he wanted to tell,” Sports Illustrated said in a statement Friday at night. “Our hearts go out to Celine and her family, as well as everyone who loved her work. She will always be a part of the SI family.”
Other writers and journalists paid tribute to Wahl when news of his death broke.
“Grant Wahl was my friend, one of the nicest and most genuinely decent people I’ve ever had the opportunity to work with. I’m flattered,” Will Leitch, Deadspin’s founding editor, tweeted.
Ted Lasso writer and co-star Brendan Hunt also paid tribute to Wahl on Twitter.
“Sitting here devastated by the horrible news that Grant Wahl passed away today in Qatar,” Hunt wrote. “I have read his work for literally decades; I had the pleasure of meeting him just two months ago, and he was an absolute mensch. This is a tragic and devastating loss.”
Wahl was known as a champion of women’s soccer. Former USWNT star Carli Lloyd described his death as “truly heartbreaking” on Twitter. She added: “Completely shocked. My heart goes out to his wife, family, friends and the football community.”